Mumbai: A special Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court on Monday convicted and sentenced a 40-year-old father, a former office boy, to life imprisonment for raping his 15-year-old daughter. The incident came to light in 2015 when the girl, then a Class 9 student, was found to be seven months pregnant. Later she delivered a baby girl. The mother and the child are currently lodged at a government–run shelter.  

The prosecution case was that on October 21, 2015, the victim informed her mother about the pain in her abdomen. Since the victim had undergone an appendix surgery a year-and-half ago, the mother thought something was wrong because of that and called her husband’s cousin brother who used to stay in Bhuleshwar. The cousin, who is also complainant in the case, took the victim to a doctor in Bhuleshwar, who tested her and suggested a sonography for her. The sonography results revealed that the victim was seven months pregnant.

Following the report, they took the victim to cousin’s house. After taking her into confidence, she revealed that it was her father who had raped her. She told them that her father was sexually abusing her since September 2014 and he used to have sexual intercourse with her twice or thrice a week between 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm, when they were alone at home.

To prove the charges, public prosecutor Shankar Erande relied upon medical reports and testimonies of the victim, doctors who conducted her tests, her mother and the cousin who had filed the complaint about the rape.

Though the defence had denied all the charges, Judge V.P. Avhad accepted the testimony of witnesses and medical reports of the victim and convicted and sentenced the father to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life.

Case details

• Victim was studying in Class 9 when incident came to light
• After registration of the FIR, the victim was shifted to Sadanand Ashram
• She was seven months pregnant at the time of registration of FIR on October 23, 2015
• Later she delivered a baby girl
• Both, the victim and her daughter are still in Ashram and since trial is over, the mother of victim would be allowed to take her back home
• The family hails from Ratnagiri and was residing in Mumbai since the last 10 years before the incident. The victim’s mother has shifted back to their hometown